[Madhatter]

Originally Posted by West Ender

When statistics are being bandied around I am always reminded of one fact. Merseyside and its nearby area has, apparently, the highest rate of lung cancer in Britain. Though the anti-tobacco lobby would, no doubt, argue that this must mean the area has the biggest concentration of smokers, that hypothesis is ridiculous. What the area does have is a large concentration of chemical industries, particularly in the Widnes/Runcorn area, and petro-chemical and neuclear plants on the Wirral.

While I, as an ex-smoker, totally agree with non-smoking enclosed environments I find the premise of outdoor tobacco smoke being responsible for air pollution, frankly, ludicrous. Take a drive through Widnes, on a still day, with your car window open, drive down to the dock area in Runcorn or have a ride out to Stanlow refinery. Take a deep lungful of the air the people are breathing daily and, when you stop coughing, just think a little harder.

Thats not from stanlow, thats from that smelly poisonous toxic incinerator, the smell makes me sick. I've rarelly smelt anything in widnes, and only if I'm by the chemical plant in runcorn.